No

[5minutetheft]

WHO: Nicoleta and Ion
WHEN: June 20th, Very early in the morning
WHERE: A rectory by the church
WHAT: Husband and wife discussion

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[amar_dulce_vin]

He had awoken with the far-off sound of horse hooves on cobblestones and the quiet sound of a horse being led into the stable. He stared at the far wall as the front door opened shakily (uneven hinges and warped wood he'd always meant to replace) and the ancient stairs were climbed. The footsteps became muted as they passed the bedroom door and he could only smile grimly.

Nicoleta was only considerate at the oddest of times.

The sound of the water pipes rattling in the old walls as the tub filled did not completely mask the rustle of clothing being shed. Ion buried his face in his pillow, feeling a blush stain prominently in his cheeks and across the bridge of his nose. She was his wife, but still--

He pulled the blanket up higher in a strange display of propriety and lay there, silently counting from one to ten, dividing the numbers into arbitrary decimals and letting himself be distracted by numerical pursuits until the sounds of quietly splashing water against naked skin faded from his hearing.

The door creaked open and everything stopped for a brief moment.

Ion froze beneath the quilt and saw Nicoleta paused in the doorway, giving a murderous look to the hinges.

It all came back to him very quickly; the night's (every night, recently) anxieties, the bare patch he was wearing into the floor with his nervous pacing, the insincere prayers he was sending up to a deity he barely believed in but still practiced the morals of, knowing that his wife was out there in the darkness risking her life so that someone had to...die.

And then she came home to wash the red from her skin with rose petals so that she felt clean enough to slip into a bed with a man she believed loved her.

He cringed guiltily and pushed that last thought away. It was just too soon.

"...Nicoleta," he said at last. "You're home early."

[5minutetheft]

Startled, she turned around. There was a dismal feeling of guilt in her chest but she managed to give him a weak smile. "And you're awake early. But that's my fault, isn't it?" Proceeding this was the sound of soft laughter. The woman waltzed over to the edge of the bed and sat down. Although Nicoleta had an upright posture, she was burdened with a throbbing headache on the back of her head.

"Let us go to sleep now, hm? You will wake up early and you will need the energy."

[amar_dulce_vin]

"You don't need to speak so formally with me, prinţesa mea," he murmured quietly, moving to weave his arms around her waist and lay his head against her hip, "I have to wake up soon anyway, so it's no bother to spend a few moments with you."

He went silent for a moment, absently running a thumb along her side as he pondered his next words.

"And tonight was...you're fine?"

[5minutetheft]

Apparently she brought the speech pattern from the party she had attended a while ago. Nicoleta smiled and then touched his head gingerly. "Oops, just a slip." She added with a rather cheerful tone.

She looked at the ceiling and suddenly felt very grateful she was home. His question, though, took her by surprise. Just a little.

"I am!" Nicoleta replied as she looked at him with a questionable gaze, wondering if she shouldn't be fine. Then, she admitted, "Just have a bit of a headache is all. Nothing to worry about, iubire."

[amar_dulce_vin]

"I just thought I should ask. I'm never sure if--when you'll come back."

He tightened his hold and fell silent again.

"I wish you wouldn't do this. You're too good for this kind of thing, Nimea."

[5minutetheft]

She blinked. Of course, this sort of notion was to be expected, from her husband no less! "Oh..." Still, Nicoleta wasn't really sure about how to go on about this.

During the brief silence she ran her fingers through his hair. "Sometimes I wonder the same thing. This lifestyle isn't easy to slide out of." Then she chuckled again, dryly this time, for she needed something to divert him away from the lacking quality of her responses. It was still rather... difficult to try to explain.

"Do you want me to do something I am bad with?" She asked teasingly.

[amar_dulce_vin]

"I think I would prefer that," he responded wryly. "I mean, it's not as if you have no talent in other things. And you might start neglecting me less," he added jokingly, shifting upwards to press his lips affectionately behind her ear.

"It just...occurs to me, sometimes," he said quietly, "all the what-ifs and the maybes and could-bes and could-have-beens. Or the what-could-happens if something didn't...go right one day. What could happen to you. What could happen to me. What could happen to...us."

He flushed deeply and buried his face in her hair in embarrassment, leaving her to decipher his meaning.

[5minutetheft]

She snorted. Honestly she couldn't really think of anything else she was good at during that time. It came to her as something funny, not to mention that the kiss tickled. However that could not conceal her guilt. "Vra, you have a way with words." Nicoleta twiddled her fingers as her shoulders slumped. "I... don't want to neglect you."

Then she felt herself shrink a little more as she listened to him. "But ah--"

Nicoleta fell silent and didn't move when he came closer. She closed her eyes for a second, savoring the intense feeling in her chest. The butterflies were caught in a spider's finely knitted web.

The woman wrapped her arms around his waist. "Don't think this way." She didn't know what to say. "Please."

[amar_dulce_vin]

"I'm sorry," he said wryly, still hiding his flush in her hair. "I don't mean to make you feel badly. I just think there are other things you could be doing that aren't as dangerous if...w-well--"

He flushed darker in the dim light, not sure how to continue.

"I-if, well...the...inevitable occurred."

[5minutetheft]

She mused as she fiddled with the fabric of shirt between her fingers. Nicoleta didn't think he was wrong but she thought it would be best to stay silent.

But... she knitted her eyebrows after he mentioned something about the 'inevitable'. She wondered what on earth that could be---Oh.

Nicoleta let out a snort as a way of congratulating herself that she had figured it out and then squeezed him. "Ah... you don't mean... Babies, do you?"

That word made her throat dry up.

[amar_dulce_vin]

"It could happen," he muttered in mortification, "I mean, that kind of thing...d-does happen with married couples..."

"Besides," he continued, "if that did happen, what would you do then? You couldn't keep doing what you're doing now. That's why it's best to consider alternatives, nu?"